Brussels subway shuts down as Belgium warns of ‘serious’ terrorism threat

Brussels - The subway system in Belgium's capital was shut down on Saturday as authorities declared a "serious and present threat" of terrorism.

The national emergency centre declared a Level 4 threat - the highest possible - overnight into Saturday. No details were released, other than to say the situation had received a "new assessment" in the wake of the Paris bombings.

A subway spokesperson said there would be no service all day, with no decision yet on whether to reopen for Sunday. Buses and trams did continue to provide service in Brussels.

Extra security was also reported at the nation's airports and train stations.

"The recommendations for the population are very simple," said a crisis centre spokesperson.

"We ask you to avoid places with large gatherings of people in the Brussels capital region, such as concerts, popular events, train stations, airports and public transportation."

Many of the participants in the November 13 Paris terrorist attacks had ties to the Belgian capital.

The death toll from those attacks rose to 130 on Friday, French media reported. Brussels is also headquarters to the European Union and the Nato defence alliance.

Outside of Brussels, the rest of the country was put on Level 3, which means "a possible and likely" threat.

Prime Minister Charles Michel scheduled a Saturday morning meeting of the national security council to discuss security procedures.

Beigium army

Now is a heck of a time for Belgium to finally do something about their local ISIS inhabitants.

If they had actually done something prior to this, Paris would probably not happened.

Belgium is an ISIS hotbed of safety from what I have read.

SMTA said:

Now is a heck of a time for Belgium to finally do something about their local ISIS inhabitants.

If they had actually done something prior to this, Paris would probably not happened.

Belgium is an ISIS hotbed of safety from what I have read.

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Neither the Belgians nor the English who had explosions in their subway (Underground) and a bus are responsible to the terror in Paris.

Heinrich said:

Neither the Belgians nor the English who had explosions in their subway (Underground) and a bus are responsible to the terror in Paris.

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Belgium is a failed state – POLITICO

That the Paris terrorist attacks had strong links to a suburb of Brussels didn’t shock many of us who live in the Belgian capital. Radio stations here in both French and Dutch are full of discussions about Molenbeek that elicit indignation, sorrow, anger, guilt, despair, defiance. But not surprise.

Friday’s attacks in Paris were but the latest in a litany of jihadist incidents over the last two years involving people with ties to Molenbeek, including the 2014 shooting at the Jewish museum in Brussels, the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January and the failed attack in August on a Thalys train.

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How come so many terrorist attacks are linked to Belgium?

According to Belgian blogger and terrorist tracker Pieter Van Ostaeyen, at least 516 Belgians had traveled to Syria, as Abaaoud did, to fight in the country’s civil war as of October, by far the largest per capita contribution of any European country. At least 112 of those are affiliated with ISIS.

As I wrote back in January, experts attribute the growing strain of radicalism in Belgium with the country’s failure to integrate its Muslim population—about 6 percent of Belgians—many of whom live in rough urban neighborhoods like Molenbeek. According to Belgian Interior minister Jan Jambon, many of those recruited to fight in Syria are third- or fourth-generation immigrants.

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Why Does Belgium Produce So Many Radical Islamist Militants? - The Atlantic

In particular, Belgian jihadism is concentrated in Molenbeek. It’s a neighborhood of nearly 100,000 people in Brussels, northwest of the city center, which has had a large Muslim population for many years. There are 22 known mosques in the district. Molenbeek shares some characteristics with the banlieues in French—densely populated, large immigrant populations, very high unemployment, complaints of inadequate government services, isolation from the central city and corridors of power. In other ways, however, Molenbeek is rather different: It has a strong middle class, bustling commercial districts, and a gentrifying artist class.

“I notice that each time there is a link with Molenbeek,” Prime Minister Charles Michel said Sunday. “This is a gigantic problem. Apart from prevention, we should also focus more on repression.” (That unfortunate wording may be a failure of translation.) Interior Minister Jan Jambon added: “We don’t have control of the situation in Molenbeek at present.”

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Yea, you are wrong.

Yea, looks like Belgium has done very little to contain ISIS.

You need to read more carefully, as I said nothing about the UK.

dani67 said:

Brussels - The subway system in Belgium's capital was shut down on Saturday as authorities declared a "serious and present threat" of terrorism.

The national emergency centre declared a Level 4 threat - the highest possible - overnight into Saturday. No details were released, other than to say the situation had received a "new assessment" in the wake of the Paris bombings.

A subway spokesperson said there would be no service all day, with no decision yet on whether to reopen for Sunday. Buses and trams did continue to provide service in Brussels.

Extra security was also reported at the nation's airports and train stations.

"The recommendations for the population are very simple," said a crisis centre spokesperson.

"We ask you to avoid places with large gatherings of people in the Brussels capital region, such as concerts, popular events, train stations, airports and public transportation."

Many of the participants in the November 13 Paris terrorist attacks had ties to the Belgian capital.

The death toll from those attacks rose to 130 on Friday, French media reported. Brussels is also headquarters to the European Union and the Nato defence alliance.

Outside of Brussels, the rest of the country was put on Level 3, which means "a possible and likely" threat.

Prime Minister Charles Michel scheduled a Saturday morning meeting of the national security council to discuss security procedures.

Click to expand...

my god. prayers for Belgium. you guys are our closest ally

maybe since this has happened obama will start taking terrorism seriously. he still thinks the ISIS is jv